Borrowing from the Manchin playbook

In First Thoughts this morning, we previewed next week's gubernatorial contest in West Virginia, noting that incumbent Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) is borrowing from Sen. Joe Manchin's successful playbook from last year.

And guess what: Manchin appears in one of Tomblin's final TV ads, praising the man who succeeded him as West Virginia governor. "Earl Ray is the right man to keep West Virgina on the right course for a better future," Manchin says in the advertisement.